Kay Carlson

My passion is to capture the light that illuminates our surrounding landscape with my paint brush. I am constantly inspired by each new day to bring a response to the canvas by sitting in front of the grand show. I bring to you the colors of an abundant universe transforming itself moment by moment.

I paint and draw in the open air on locations in California and Italy’s northern Tuscany. My paintings find their inspiration at the same source as the California colorists, both emotionally and historically. I use oil paint both on canvas and shaped pieces of marble. I am drawn to seacoast edges, the light on autumn vines, and soaring mountainsides in both countries. When my eyes and senses are activated by the converging landscape, I feel more alive. I become one with nature, with earth, sky, and sea, and paint from that perspective.

My style of painting is to sit with the land, to return year after year to see things anew. The meditation of mixing oil colors on a palate is a continuing source of excitement and invention. I draw my personal feelings about the landscape and follow the physical patterns with my brush. When I am this still the energy of the land emerges. The light of the different seasons speaks a dynamic language to me. With this kind of deep looking, being under the open sky, I am closer to my own real source of happiness. My intention is to create images which light up people’s lives and open them to deeper perceptions.